Chicken soup garden: In the album, “You don’t have to be Jewish,” one of the comedy sketches is set at a funeral. Even as the rabbi eulogizes the deceased, a Jewish mother interrupts. “Give him some chicken soup” she declares. When she is told that he is dead and it will not help his condition, “it couldn’t hurt,” is her retort. Chicken soup is often called Jewish penicillin. Its healing properties are not just in the nutrition in the broth, but in the fact that sharing chicken soup with someone else involves an act of bikkur cholim/visiting the sick. Caring visits play a vital role in the healing process. A chicken soup garden does not have to involve chicken. Instead plant all of the vegetables and herbs that you like to add to your chicken soup: Carrots, onions, dill, parsnip, celery, turnip, kohlrabi, parsley…you don’t have to grow everything you need to make the soup but if some of the vegetables come from your garden the soup gets an extra bit of love.
